The present invention relates to a bowling game. More particularly, the present invention relates to a game method for enhancing the entertainment of a traditional bowling game.
The standard rules of bowling have remained fairly consistent over time and have turned the game into what is predominantly one of skill opposed to a game of chance.
Although the inexperienced bowler may on occasion enjoy a spare or a strike, the highest scores in the game are generally only achieved by those who have obtained a high level of skill. While this fact does not altogether discourage the inexperience bowler from participating in the sport, it does confine the inexperience bowler to competing against those that are at the same skill level.
The basic rules of bowling consist of bowlers engaging in what are essentially two-ball frames for a sequence of ten frames to arrive at a final score that is compared with other bowlers who bowl at the same time. In most cases, the bowlers who are competing against each other are in adjacent bowling lanes in the same bowling establishment. A perfect score, according to the standard rules of bowling, is 300 and involves a strike on each of twelve tries with the bowling ball in the same game.
Each frame is nominally associated with the rolling of a first and then a second ball by each bowler. If the first ball is a strike, no second ball is thrown. A bowler may, therefore, throw as many as twenty-one balls during a complete game, or as few as twelve. In any event, scoring is accomplished by adding the number of pins knocked down in each frame to the total previously accumulated in earlier frames. Spares involve a total of ten plus the sum of the next ball thrown, and strikes involve a total of ten plus the sum of the next two balls thrown. In every case, the goal is to knock down as many pins as possible with each ball thrown. The skills, therefore, involve appropriate targeting and placement of the ball when thrown, such that the maximum number of pins are knocked down.
Some modifications of the apparatus associated with the play of a standard game of bowling have been implemented and have allowed the less experienced bowler to compete more directly with those whose skill levels are higher. For example, there are bowling systems and methods that incorporate bumpers in a manner that may alter the scoring procedure during a game of bowling.
These bumper bowling systems and methods permit inexperienced players to acquire new skills at the same time, or at an advanced rate, over those already skilled at the standard rules of bowling. Some aspects of these bumper bowling systems also permit random factors to enter into the final score in any frame and thus, in any particular game of bowling.
Despite this, it would be desirable to incorporate additional elements of handicapping into the play of bowling, such that unskilled players might compete more directly against those skilled in the game.
Two games commonly associated with randomness and chance, as opposed to skill, are bingo and lottery. Lottery games generally involve the random selection of some set of numbers that may or may not be matched by those who participate in the game. The typical lottery game might involve a set of six numbers, each number having a value from 1-50, with no two of the numbers being the same. Participants in the lottery game guess and select six such numbers prior to some random number generating device selecting the six numbers. Many state lotteries are based upon a system such as this.
Bingo is in many respects a more complex type of lottery game in that participants utilize a card with a random arrangement of numbers selected from the number group 1-75, organized in a two-dimensional matrix, typically 5 by 5. Individual numbers are then randomly selected and identified on each player's card matrix. The first player to acquire a specific pattern of matched numbers on his or her card is declared the winner.
It would be desirable to incorporate some of the random aspects of the game of bingo into the game of bowling in a manner that would permit unskilled bowlers to compete against those more skilled in the field.
Numerous innovations for bowling entertaining enhancement games have been provided in the prior art that will be described. Even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, however, they differ from the present invention.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,575 to Douglass, Jr. teaches a game method utilizing a particular number of bowling pins that are set up in a formation which may be conventional to bowling. A bowling ball is directed at the bowling pins in order to topple the same. The toppled bowling pins are transferred into a number which is indicated on a game board having a number of spaces, each with an assigned number. The spaces on the game board are arranged in a definite pattern. Successive placements of indica on the game board are collated according to an arrangement forming a selected part of the game board pattern.
Another example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,971 to J. File teaches a game method of play combining the skill elements of bowling with the chance elements of bingo and lottery. The game method of play includes the steps of randomly arranging and displaying a set of numbers in an order in which the numbers are to be picked for the purposes of separately identifying a lottery-type arrangement or a bingo-type arrangement. The game further involves a number of bowlers participating in a sequence of bowling frames such that the scores in the bowling frames are compared with the randomly arranged numbers previously displayed. As the randomly arranged numbers are sequentially stepped through in the comparison process, orderly patterns of matched scores and numbers are detected and identified as winning arrangements, when acquired. Various sets of specific numbers, such as in a lottery game, or various orderly patterns, such as those typically found in bingo, may be utilized to identify the winner of a particular game.
It is apparent that numerous innovations for bowling entertaining enhancement games have been provided in the prior art that are adapted to be used. Furthermore, even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, however, they would not be suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.